KidsPost Summer Book Club: 'Planet Earth is Blue'

that NASA was sending the first teacher to space. They counted down the months until the space shuttle Challenger was to launch. Bridget promised they would watch on TV together.

But then Bridget disappeared. She left Nova with a new foster family. The couple seems nice, but Bridget always warned Nova about getting too attached. Foster families aren't forever families, the teenager would say.

In the days before the launch, Nova writes Bridget letters looking for help navigating her new surroundings and reminding her sister that they planned to rocket out of foster care when Bridget turned 18 and, one day, travel together into space.

Nova's letters, which reveal how much of a thinker she is, help readers understand that people such as Nova need more than one Bridget in their corner. They need more people willing to look beneath the surface and help them follow their dreams.

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YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE ... - Michael Morpurgo's The Day the World Stopped Turning (ages 10 to 14). This story is about Lorenzo, a boy who has autism and who lives in France during World War II. He befriends a girl whose family runs a carousel. When the Germans invade, the kids have to figure out whom to trust to survive.

- Bat and the End of Everything (ages 6 to 10) is the last book in Elana K. Arnold's series about a boy on the autism spectrum who is caring for an orphaned skunk kit. As the end of third grade nears, Bat worries about saying goodbye to his favorite teacher, the class pet and most of all, Thor, the young skunk who needs to return to the wild.

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NEXT WEEK IN BOOK CLUB: How High the Moon

By Karyn Parsons. Ages 9 to 12. In 1944, life in small-town South Carolina has its charms. Twelve-year-old Ella spends her days playing and fishing with her best friend and her cousin. But Ella's life is also complicated. The African American is bullied for her skin tone, her mom lives far away, and her father is a mystery. A trip up north opens her eyes to her family's past and racial issues that soon hit close to home.

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JOIN THE CLUB

The Summer Book Club is open to kids ages 6 to 14. Children may read some or all of the books on our list. (Find a blurb for each book at wapo.st/kidspost bookclublaunch2019.) The first 500 kids registered will receive a snap watch. To join the club, children must be registered by a parent or guardian. To register, that adult must fill out our form at wapo.st/ kidspostbookclub2019 or send their email, the child's first and last names, age and address to KidsPost Summer Book Club, The Washington Post, 1301 K St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071

- WP-Bloomberg